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Boulder County commissioners consider new rules to nurture solar gardens

Proposed changes would allow gardens to be bigger than current rules

By Laura Snider Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
04/17/2011 03:34:18 PM MDT

Updated:
04/17/2011 03:34:31 PM MDT

If you go

What: The county commissioners will review proposed changes to the land use code that are designed to make it more feasible to install community solar gardens

When: 2 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Third floor of the county courthouse, 1325 Pearl St. in Boulder

What is a solar garden?

A state law passed last year defines solar gardens and makes it possible for solar garden subscribers to sell the electricity their panels produce back to Xcel. Here's a look at what a solar garden has to look like under the new law:

There must be at least 10 subscribers to the solar garden.

The subscribers must live in the county where the solar garden is installed.

The solar garden must not be bigger than 2 megawatts.

Only 6 megawatts of solar capacity will be allowed into the program in the first year.

Half of that capacity will be reserved for gardens that are 500 kilowatts or less.

Boulder County commissioners will consider a proposal Tuesday that would make it easier for community solar gardens to be installed in rural parts of the county.

Staffers from the Land Use Department are recommending that the commissioners allow solar arrays to be installed on up to 1 acre of land in any zoning district if applicants pass the county's site plan review process. The existing code only allows solar arrays that cover up to 5,000 square feet -- about one-ninth of an acre -- to be installed by site plan review, the least rigorous of the Land Use department's review processes.

"The idea is to better facilitate solar gardens," said Abby Janusz, senior planner in the Land Use Department. "The regulations we have now limit solar gardens to the point that they weren't really practical in most zone districts."

The concept behind community solar gardens is to give people who can't put photovoltaic panels on their homes -- including renters, condominium owners and those with shady roofs -- the opportunity to take advantage of solar power.

A state law that passed last year makes it possible for solar garden subscribers to sell the energy back to Xcel Energy and to see the electricity created as a credit on their electricity bills.

No solar gardens have been installed under the new law because the Colorado Public Utilities Commission has not yet approved final rules for how the program will work. But the PUC's rules are expected to be in place this summer, and changing the county's land use code now would allow potential solar garden developers to be ready.

The Land Use Department's proposed changes -- which are more conservative than recommendations from the county's Planning Commission -- would also allow solar gardens that cover between 1 and 4 acres to be built in all zoning districts if applicants get approval through the limited impact special review process, which is more rigorous than a site plan review.

Solar gardens that would cover more than 4 acres -- but which do not meet the county's definition of a power plant -- would also be allowed in some zoning districts, including general industrial, light industrial and commercial.

Larger solar gardens would also be allowed in agricultural and forestry zones, but only under specific circumstances. For example, large solar gardens in the forestry zone could only be placed in damaged areas, such as old landfills or Superfund sites.

When PUC and county rules are both finalized, Nederland resident Greg Ching hopes to begin building one of the first solar gardens in the area. He has plans to put a 100-kilowatt garden on land he would lease outside Nederland from Kayla Evans, owner of Arapaho Ranch.

Ching, who also works for the Westminster-based Solar Gardens Institute, said it's important to him that the Nederland solar garden also serve low-income residents. He points out that many of the locals who now take advantage of solar incentives are relatively wealthy, even though the incentives are funded by all Xcel ratepayers.

The state law mandates that 5 percent of solar garden capacity must be reserved for low-income subscribers, but Ching wants to reserve 40 percent of the Nederland solar garden.

"I already generate more power off the grid than I use. I'm not doing this for myself," Ching said. "For me, solar gardens have always been about access -- access to people who have otherwise been denied it. I really feel like there's so may people who have been shut out of this thing."

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